Reptile & Amphibian Forums

im only 15 and i have been finding praying matis eggs for about 8 yrs now.i live on long island. my grandpa lives in staten island. he lives by a grass land where there is always praying matis eggs. when we find them is is usualy going into witer time so i take them put them in a tank then where thy hatch put them back on the grass land where we found the sacks. i just went out side and found a sack of eggs in my back yard and it just snowed about 2 ft is there any chanch they are alive. i let about 50 go in my back yard i been letting crickets go so they could feed. how can i help the eggs hatch if they are alive.

i thought they were against the law to have true.

thanks for your help i want to help these eggs hatch should i put a heat lamp on them thanks any info would help

tom

You are probably finding T. sinensis (Chinese mantid) oothecae(egg cases). The oothecae are the only stage that survives the winter and they hatch in May. If you are letting the babies go before it gets warm (May) you are just killing them, because the nymphs and adults will die when frozen.